Homeowners Vince Williams, left, and James Daley talk about the fire damages Saturday while standing next to Williams' two destroyed kayaks.
Marcus Larson/News-Register

WILLAMINA - Linda Daley broke down in tears when a West Valley firefighter told her the litter of kittens didn't survive a fire that burned the back half of her detached garage early Saturday afternoon.

A column of black smoke spiraled into the sky over Willamina's Old-Fashioned Fourth of July festival after the shed-like structure caught fire next to her house at 154 N.W. Third St., about three blocks from the main festival site.

The cause has not been determined yet, but Lt. Dave Morey said fireworks were suspected. Daley said she heard fireworks going off very close to her house Friday night, and Morey confirmed that numerous fireworks had been set off in the neighborhood.

Neighbor David Hart spotted the wooden structure aflame about noon. He couldn't access 911 on his cell phone, so he banged on Daley's front door until she answered and she then placed the call from her home phone.

While the two waited for the fire department, they turned a garden hose on the burning garage. It took only four or five minutes for the first truck to arrive, but Hart said, "It seems like an eternity when something like that happens."

Twelve firefighters responded with two engines, a brush rig, a command vehicle, an ambulance and a rescue rig.

Daley's husband, James, was at work at Spirit Mountain Casino at the time. She didn't realize the garage was ablaze until her neighbor sounded the alarm.

In addition to the kittens, the Daleys lost photographs and mementos they had stored in the garage following a downsizing move from a larger home in Salem. They said the loss included photos documenting the childhood years of her 37-year-old daughter, who was up in Portland at the time for the birth of her first granddaughter - the Daleys' first great-granddaughter.

However, the family dog, Ruby, escaped safely. And insurance should cover the material losses.

A flood of emotion washed over Daley as she watched the tin roof curl from the heat and white paint and red trim char from the flames. Initially, she said, "I was just shaking."

But she said she would be forever grateful to Hart for knocking on her door. "It's good to have neighbors that are so alert," she said.